Many people these days are considered overweight or even clinically obese. When an overweight person finally decides that it is time to lose weight, most people are tempted to try the latest fad diet that promises the fastest results. Unfortunately, that is the worst thing that you can do for your body. Yes, the fad diet may help you lose a few pounds in a short time, but the weight loss will not be permanent. Most people gain the weight back quickly and may even gain back more than they lost originally. This is called “Yo-Yo” dieting. The truth is that diets don’t work!

One of the reasons that diets don’t work is that many people eat “diet” foods. They choose foods that they may not like very much just because they hold the promise of weight loss. When you change your eating habits for weight loss, you must find foods that you enjoy eating and eat the proper portion sizes. To have a healthy lifestyle for the rest of your life you must continue eating the proper amount of healthful foods.

Another reason diets don’t work is that we usually associate the word “diet” with punishing ourselves. We’ve been eating badly so now we have to be punished by eating healthy foods. Or we may think of dieting as depriving ourselves of all of the yummy treats that we desire. We may even feel isolated and alone. All of your friends are able to eat cake at the party and you can’t. Eventually, we give in to the temptations.

Diets slow down your metabolism. When you drastically change your eating habits or eat too few calories, your body will burn less calories in normal daily functions to preserve energy. When you diet and don’t add exercise your body will be burning muscle as well as fat, and then your metabolism will slow even further with the loss of the lean muscle. Once you are done with your diet your metabolism will be extremely sluggish and then as you begin to eat the fattier foods you will gain your weight back within a few weeks. You want to eat in a way that boosts your metabolism, not slow it down.

There are even so many more reasons why diets don’t work than just these, but the bottom line is that dieting is just not going to give you the long term forever weight loss that most people desire. In order to achieve long term weight loss, you must get active every day for 30-60 minutes, as well as eat foods that are nutritionally sound in the proper portion sizes each day. If you do this, then over time you will lose weight gradually and keep it off.